She has a Master and Doctorate Degree in Preventive Medicine, with research studies on breastfeeding. She is currently working at the Institute of Health, S.Paulo, Brazil, and is a member of the Brazilian National Breastfeeding Committee within the Ministry of Health. She was a former Medical Officer at WHO in Geneva, responsible for breastfeeding activities and is a member of scientific societies such as ISRHML and Pediatric Association, and a member of IBFAN and WABA, where she is the Coordinator of the WABA Task Force on Health Care Practices.


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She joined the WABA Health Care Practices Task Force in 2009.

Asha is the Bangalore city co-coordinator for the Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India (BPNI) and has succeeded in certifying all Corporation Maternity Homes UNICEF Baby-Friendly. She is a National trainer for the infant and young child feeding consultant course, trainer for gender issues in breastfeeding and has conducted thousands of workshops for health workers and communities on breastfeeding. She has also written a book titled Breastfeeding, the basic instinct, published a paper in the May 2003 issue of Indian Pediatrics - New-Lactation technique to breastfeed asphyxiated babies, and has developed a flipchart in both English and the local language to reach community members. She has won several awards from BPNI and is a founder trustee of the NGO Lactation Helpline.


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For over thirty years, Rae's professional career has been dedicated to childbirth and breastfeeding education. Along with providing training programs for doulas, childbirth educators, midwives and nurses, Rae serves as the Administrative Director for the International MotherBaby Childbirth Organisation, an NGO whose purpose is to promote 10 Steps to Optimal Maternity Care in order to save lives, prevent illness and harm from the overuse of obstetric technologies, and to promote health for mothers and babies. Rae also serves on the Board of Directors for the Florida School of Traditional Midwifery.


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Previously, Dr Labbok served as Sr Advisor for Infant and Young Child Feeding at UNICEF and Chief of Nutrition and Maternal Health at USAID, Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins and Associate Professor at Georgetown University where she was Director of the WHO Center of Excellence on Breastfeeding. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers University, and Tulane University. She was a resident in pediatrics at Georgetown and a post-doc in epidemiology and preventative medicine residency at Johns Hopkins. She has >35 years of research, technical assistance, training, program and policy development experience related to maternal/child dyad health, reproductive health and nutrition in >50 countries, is known for her contributions to the development and testing of the Lactational Amenorrhea Method (LAM). She has published more than 300 chapters, articles, monographs, and abstracts, has presented hundreds of invited lectures and seminars, and has received many honors academia and professional organizations. She is a founder of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine.


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During that time she worked in community paediatrics with a particular interest in nutrition; and has written books, developed courses and other training materials, and taught health workers about breastfeeding.

From 1993 – 2001 Dr. Savage worked as a Medical Officer with WHO in Geneva, in the Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Development where she was responsible for the promotion of breastfeeding, policy development and training, including the area of HIV and infant feeding. She continues to promote breastfeeding with particular concern for education and training of health professionals. She is Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Centre for International Child Health, Institute of Child Health, London, where she is founding Director of the annual Breastfeeding: Practice and Policy Course. She is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP), Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine (FHPHM), Fellow of the Royal College of Paeditrics and Child Health (FRCPCH), Fellow of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, and Fellow of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics. She was a pioneer in the development of the breastfeeding movement in the 1980s, leading up to the formulation of the Innocenti Declaration in 1991 and the inception of WABA, and she continues to undertake consultancies in all regions, for NGO’s as well as for UNICEF and WHO, mostly relating to health worker training in breastfeeding and related subjects. She is currently Chairperson of the WABA Steering Committee.


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In addition to receiving a degree in Medicine from the University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine, she also holds a DrPH in Epidemiology (with a major focus on perinatal care) from UCLA School of Public Health. She has a lifetime professional interest in maternal, infant, and family health promotion, preferring to prevent rather than treat disease. In 1985, she co-founded Wellstart International, a nonprofit organisation established to educate health care providers (medical and nursing students as well as perinatal specialty residents), in the “why and hows” of optimal infant and young child feeding. She has been instrumental in both international efforts to promote breastfeeding as the normal and optimal way to feed infants and young children and is a founding member of the World Alliance of Breastfeeding Action. She is currently a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics (Voluntary, part-time) at The University of Vermont College of Medicine.


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and has been a driving force in the founding and growth of WABA and also various international NGOs, such as the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN), Health Action International (HAI), Pesticide Action Network (PAN) and Citizens International. Anwar’s contributions in the areas of consumer health, environment, human rights and peace issues have brought him local and global recognition, among them the Right Livelihood Award, popularly known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize,” the Global 500 Award by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Mother Earth News Hall of Fame, The Gandhi-King-Ikeda Community Builders Peace Award, and Honorary Doctorates in Law and Philosophy. He also serves as Chairperson of the Malaysian Interfaith Network and the Taiping Peace Initiative. He was a co-founder of Transparency International Malaysia, the Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) and a former President of the International Organisation of Consumers Unions (IOCU) and the Environmental Liaison Centre International (ELCI).

Anwar was trained in Economics and Education and has worked in teaching, local and state governments and for 12 years with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on urban governance issues in Asia and the Pacific. He is currently, a Professor and Director of the Right Livelihood College (RLC) based at the University Sains Malaysia (USM) in Penang, Malaysia.

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